Many were surprised by Hillary Clinton’s recent comments that she and her husband were financially struggling when they left the White House, given the millions they’d earned and would soon earn. But former aide Kiki McLean says the confusion is explained by the fact that the family’s outlook and “expectations” are just different from those of many people, whether because the Clintons have no made a great deal of money or because they got used to a certain standard of living in the White House.

But that doesn’t mean she can no longer relate to ordinary Americans: “There’s nothing fair with anybody who would insinuate that Hillary Clinton doesn’t understand the struggle of a middle-class family,” McLean told CNN. “She certainly grew up with one, and she gave a statement of fact when President Clinton and Mrs. Clinton left the White House, they were dead broke. Now they have a life and a set of expectations that are different, and they’ve been fortunate to make some money since then.”